Negotiating the home inspection – Home selling tips
Yes you can negotiate with the buyer on what they want repaired. Some buyers will give you a laundry list of what they want repaired and others will just give you the major ones. One of the first items to consider is how bad do the buyers want your home? Have they told you that the love it? Have they been driving by the house multiple times? Have they stopped by and talked to you? Then you may be able to get away without doing the whole list. As I have told my sellers in the past look at the list. Are they major items or are they minor?
Here are some questions to ask yourself:
1. Could you sell the house to the next person if these items were not repaired?
2. Will the next inspector miss these items?
3. Would you buy a house if they have these inspection issues?
4. Are these items health, safety, or environmental issues?
If you answer no to any of the first three questions or yes to the fourth question then you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO FIX THAT ITEM. There is no if, and, or but about it. If the next inspector is going to find the same problem and you would not buy a house with that problem….why would any buyer purchase your home? If it has mold, a bad roof, basement leaks then it needs to be fixed. If you can’t afford to fix it or do not have the time to fix it, then your alternative is to offer the buyer a price reduction.
Whatever you do when you get a list of items to repair, do no refuse to do them all. Pick out a few that you will do. You want to give the buyer the satisfaction that you are doing something. You want to meet them halfway. Negotiations are about making both sides happy. Give a little. Have your realtor try to find out what are the buyers hot buttons on the inspection list. What does the buyer really want fixed? I have had clients pick out a few things, I have had clients do them all. Sometimes it is best to have the buyer do them so you do not have to go through a home inspection a second time. It is very important to get a bill. It is better that you hire a licensed contractor to do the work especially if it a major inspection issue. Keep all bills and warranties on the work so you can give it to the buyer.
Remember the key is to get your house sold. It does not matter that you have lived with the house the way it was for 22 years. We all put things off. What was right 22 years ago may not be the building code or standard today. So the key is to make the buyer happy and get the deal to the closing table. I hope this Metro Detroit home selling tip helped you understand some of the issues you may encounter when the home inspection goes bad.
If you are getting ready to sell your house give me a call on my cell phone at (248)310-6239 or email me at yesmyrealtor@gmail.com I promise you I will aggressively market your home to get the highest price possible for you.
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